There are a great deal of card games in the app store, yet none of them can even compare to Durak in terms of polish and pure, simple fun

Durak is a multiplayer card game with a “war” and “trump” base. To win, you need to be the first one to lose all of your cards. You are initially dealt six cards, after which a trump suit is defined. Each turn, you must either attack your opponent or defend against his attack. When attacking, you play down whatever card you please, and then, your opponent must play a card of greater value of the same suit, or a trump card. If you played a trump card, then your opponent can only play a trump card of greater value or they must “take in”. Taking in entails putting all the cards on the table into the losers hand. This is obviously detrimental, as you want all of your cards to be gone. Now, say your opponent did play a card of equal or greater value. Then you must continue your attack. You can only do that by playing a card of the same number as a previously played card. If you can do this, then the attack cycle continues until they either take in, or you cannot play another card of the same number, in which the attack ends, all the cards on the table are discarded, and your opponents turn begins. Then you must defend against your opponents attack. You can defend in the way previously defined, or you can play a card of the same value, in which the attack is “turned over”, where the person who was attacking is now defending, and must defend against both cards. Beware, though, as this turn over can be turned back with another card of the same value, and then you must defend against all three cards. This whole, complicated cycle continues until the deck is empty and one of the players’ cards run out. Thus, the first player who runs out is the winner, and the last player has the humiliating title of “the Durak”. There can be up to four players, and three winners, but only one Durak. This may sound complicated written down on paper like this, but the game has a well structured tutorial with examples, and this makes the whole process simple and easy to remember. After all, I found the game very fun to play, and the feeling of just denying some ones turn over is so satisfying.

The games interface and UI is possibly the most impressive thing about this game. It is perfect. Smooth, responsive, attractive, classy and clean, this game feels great. It’s also amazingly simple to control. The one thing that simply hit me and gave me an amazing first impression was, on the menu screen, there is small pile of cards that you can touch and move around the screen. That just hit me as “Wow… This game has polish.” and still impresses me every time I play it. Overall, this games interface is jaw dropping.

The graphics in this game are the very simple, just cards and a classy tabletop, but they look simply gorgeous. They are super clean and classy, and they make this card game nice to look at. Another nice thing about the graphics is that, in the options, you can take any picture in your library and make it the back of the card. This is a nice addition that really personalizes the game. Overall, the game is simply pretty and very classy.

This game has great sound. It has a nice jazz funk soundtrack, and, of course, the shuffling sound of the cards is perfectly satisfactory. Besides, if you aren’t into the soundtrack, you can play your own music over the app. Overall, the sound of this game is polished and perfectly satisfactory.

This game has a generous amount of replay value. It allows for continuous single player play that doesn’t get too old, but you will find yourself not playing this game by yourself too often. However, it has a great multiplayer mode that supports up to four players locally on wifi. There is said to be online multiplayer in a soon-to-come update, so I’m sure that will improve its replay value even more. All in all, if you have four people- hell, even two people- with the game in close proximity, this can be the game of the month for you. If there is only one iDevice and one player, this game isn’t going to be the first to tap when you unlock your iPhone.

Really, the only thing I can hit on with this game is a lack of replay value for the lonely iDevice owner. If you don”t have a bunch of iPhone owning friends, this game isn’t perfect for you, but I still suggest it as a great feeling, looking and playing game. If that isn’t true, however, this game is the belle of the ball, and will be on your first springboard for awhile. But, online multiplayer is coming, so, these problems will be fixed.

I give this game a 9 out of 10.

It’s pretty fun, great feeling and looking, great for a bunch of people with iPhones and copies of the game, but not perfect for someone playing alone.